Shattered Ones
by ForgottenWhispersxo
Summary: In a time ruled by Dragons and Death, Meredy must conquer her fears in order to save the man she loves. [Lyredy/Jerza] / [Tragedy/Angst]


**Series: **Fairy Tail.  
><strong>Main Pairing: <strong>Lyredy.  
><strong>Secondary Pairing: <strong>Jerza.  
><strong>Other Pairings: <strong>Crime Sorcière, Meredy/Erza  
><strong>Rating: <strong>T/M for death.  
><strong>Triggers: <strong>Blood, Death, Angst.  
><strong>Angstmas Masterpost: <strong>_here___.__

**A/N: **The fluffy Lyredy I wrote for blamedorange on tumblr was technically a tiny gift on top of a bigger gift. My Angstmas entry should also be considered my larger, most crushing gift for her. She is the reason I got into the Lyredy ship in the first place, after all, haha. So again, Mabel, Happy Birthday!

**Synopsis: **In a time ruled by Dragons and Death, Meredy must conquer her fears in order to save the man she loves.

_;Yesterday I died, tomorrow's bleeding. Fall into your sunlight._

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><p><strong>11 DAYS OF ANGSTMAS: SHATTERED ONES<strong>

* * *

><p><em>Scarlet.<em>

Hot, blazing scarlet fogged Meredy's vision as Jellal's cloak sank to the ground in a heap of dust, dust that lifted like a cape with the wind at its back and vanished into the smoky horizon. Erza fell after him with a scream of anguish far greater than the roar of any Dragon. Smoke billowed from the ruins of Fiore around them, spiralling up and out over the ashen land. Life no longer belonged here.

There was only Death.

"You can't!" Erza shrieked after the dust, "You can't do this, Jellal! You're not dead! I won't accept this. I won't! Jellal!"

Meredy wanted to reach out to Erza, wanted to embrace the broken girl clutching at the remains of the man she loved, but something held her back. Something held Meredy's feet perfectly still, where she remained frozen a few feet away. She pictured Jellal's face in her mind, pictured his broken smile as he'd taken Erza's hand to kiss it. Their first and only kiss. He'd known all along that he would die.

_Scarlet._

Like the scales of the massive beast circling over them. Paralysed, she watched as Erza fingered the empty cloak. What remained of the dust, of Jellal, spiled between her fingers like sand in an hourglass. She watched as the powerful Titania Erza relinquished all strength, all pride, and crumbled at the loss of the man she loved and would love until the end of time. She'd been reduced to a trembling mess of tears and screams.

_"Be strong, Erza. Be strong and live. Both of you."_

Jellal's voice was so clear in her mind, so clear that Meredy felt her heart might break with the realisation that she'd never hear it again. What he'd said to Erza was unfair, they both knew that. How could Erza remain strong when the man she loved had been reduced to a pile of ash? Meredy clenched a fist at her side. She had no tears left to shed, no energy left to mourn. He'd been so precious to her. So very precious.

"I love you," Erza choked out in the voice of a fragile little girl, "I love you, Jellal."

Meredy should have stopped him; she should have been stronger. She'd exhausted her efforts when Ultear had fallen to protect her, when the first Dragon had declared war on their small group just weeks before. They'd been lucky to escape its clutches at all, but that luck had finally run out. The time Ultear had given to them had finally come to an end. Not even the memories of Ultear's death at the hands of a Dragon could stir tears; Meredy stood frozen like the charred remains of surrounding buildings, crumbling and weathering against the hot, dry wind. Incapable of life.

_"Live on, Meredy; my daughter, my friend. I love you."_

Ultear's voice sounded as beautiful in her mind as it had out loud. It also sounded just as broken. She wanted to cry out for her mother, for Ultear, but no words would come.

The shadow looming overhead swallowed Meredy in its entirety, threatening to suck her into the black void beneath her feet. She hooked skeins of pink hair behind her ears and watched as Erza shook the remaining dust from Jellal's cloak and wrapped it around her frame. The flames that devoured Jellal's body had not been forgotten, they burned at the inside of Meredy's throat, scorched at her skin and dried the air lashing at her cheeks. How his cloak had survived, Meredy honestly didn't know. But it gave Erza something to hold onto, for the brief time they had left on Earthland at least.

The shadow overhead spread like a black ocean across the rubble, threatening to drown the two of them in its depths. But it was the Dragon accompanying that shadow that plunged them deep into the despair of it.

"Meredy, you must go. You must live. Both of us don't have to die!"

"But Jellal said-"

"Meredy, I'm not giving you a choice! If you don't leave," a sword materialised in Erza's hand, "I'll make you."

With a snarl the beast crashed to the ground before them, nostrils flared as smoke twisted and undulated from within them. Erza readied her sword in one hand and held Jellal's cloak between the fingers of her other, prepared for the end. Meredy remained frozen. Frozen, like the blinding flash of ice that came rocketing over her shoulders from behind. She'd never forget the day _he _showed up.

_Scarlet_.

The deep, menacing colour of flame that took Meredy's loved ones. A colour that Jellal loved. A colour that burned in the back of Meredy's mind each and every day, plaguing her dreams, blinding reality.

A colour that would haunt her for the rest of her life.

* * *

><p>"Meredy! Meredy, wake up!"<p>

She knew this voice, knew the cold, worried tone that dragged her through the blinding flash of scarlet clouding her subconscious. With a start she was pulled from slumber, the scream lodged in her throat escaping in a shrill cry for relief. Lyon wound his arms around her immediately, cradling her against him as though the nightmare could be vanquished if he held her long enough. Her screams were muffled by his coat, but the tears could not be stopped.

Of course it couldn't be vanquished, this was a nightmare they lived each and every day. She'd been travelling with Lyon little over three months now; three long, arduous months of fighting and running and mourning. And now the snow had started to fall, gathering amongst the ash and rubble. What little snow managed to pile up was soon evaporated by the hot flames of a passing Dragon, a Dragon that drove the two of them from their shelter and forced them to choose -

Fight or Flee.

For now, however, the snow was gathering beautifully on the thick stone of an old house they'd found sanctuary within. During the occasional spell of precipitation the snow would float into the room through the broken ceiling, but the beauty of it was well worth the invasion of cold air. Drawing back from the embrace, Meredy took the time to admire the snow piled up on the window ledge. It blushed beneath the thin streams of sunlight fighting through the clouds. Despite the cold, she was grateful to see something other than ash. Something other than ruin.

He took her face into his hands and swept his thumbs over her tears, tears soon replaced by new ones. Her face was hot with the effort of crying.

"What time is it? How long did I-"

"It's early morning," Lyon released her face and gestured outside. "You needed your rest, Meredy. We've been on the move for days."

"There isn't time to rest. We have to keep moving, to find the others. So many people have died so that I can..."

_Live? _This isn't living. With a deep breath, Meredy managed to stop her tears. If it weren't for the snow, she'd have no idea they were in the winter season now. The ruins of Fiore weren't discernible wherever they travelled. It had taken Lyon a while to recognise the ruins of Lamia Scale's guild hall and then they'd had to flee from a passing Dragon. Not a single town they'd passed through remained unscathed. It had been so long since she'd seen the beauty of a flowering tree or the incredible view of the ocean. How she wanted to break the cool surface with her fingertips.

More than that, though, Meredy wanted to see the ocean with Ultear again. She wanted to hold her mother's hand and tell her about her day. About the kindness Lyon had shown her. She wanted to tell her mother about the feelings brewing inside of her. She wanted to see her family again. Meredy's thoughts drifted then, for a moment, to Jellal. She thought about his death, then she thought about Erza. About the scarlet haired woman she'd left to die that day. About the hot flames exploding behind her as Lyon dragged her over the rubble.

At least Erza could be with Jellal now.

"I was going to wait to give you this, but I can see you need it now. We've been together for some time now Meredy, the things we have seen, the things we have experienced... they are no less than tragedies. But they allowed us to meet and for that I am truly grateful."

Meredy's face flushed. In the months she had come to know Lyon, she had never heard him speak with such a gentle voice. The smile that followed shone defiantly in his eyes, like a stray beam of sunlight fighting through a thick mass of cloud.

"Lyon, what brought this-"

He pressed a finger to her lips, bringing her to silence. And then, with both hands between them, he cast a web of ice between his fingers, a web that twisted and moved to form a beautiful heart.

"If I were able, if it would save you, I would pry my heart from my chest and let it beat in the palms of your hands. But I can't. This is a replica of the frozen heart that once beat inside of me. A replica of the man I used to be, the man I was forced to be when we first met. I was always pushing you, dragging you over the bodies of our friends to keep you safe. Just as the sun will melt the snow, you have melted my heart. And so I am giving this to you, I trust you'll take care of it."

The heart in his hands sparkled as though encrusted with countless diamonds, reflecting the sunlight peering in through the windows. It took everything inside her to fight back tears, to fight off the swell of affection spilling to the surface. With a wiggle of his fingers, Lyon had forged a makeshift chain to hang the heart from her neck, and when he'd reached around her shoulders to secure it beneath the mass of pink hair trailing down her back, it lay over her own heart, which beat faster than it ever had before. For just a brief moment, the sorrow of their predicament was forgotten.

"Lyon... why are you saying all of this? Did something happen? Is it your wound?!"

Meredy leaned forward to peel his coat apart, exposing the bandages underneath. His hand dropped to her wrist and pushed her away. She searched his eyes for a reason, for the source of his beautiful words, but they were impenetrable. He held her captive in his icy stare, a prison she would stay in for eternity, if he'd let her.

"I love you, Meredy," the eyes she'd lost herself to were coming closer with each word, "I'm saying that I'm in love you."

His lips were so close to hers now she could feel his warm breath against them. The pounding of her heart seemed to quicken with their closeness.

"Lyon... I..."

"Let us indulge in humanity just once. Just for today."

Before she could stop herself, Meredy was crying again. Lyon's heart wasn't the only one melting today, she could already feel the numbness inside her disappearing. She hadn't felt anything in so long, but now the warmth was undeniable. This heat wasn't menacing like the flames of a Dragon, but gentle and inviting instead. She craved it. White hot need spread through her. Meredy had never ached for anyone the way she ached for him.

And before she knew it - their lips were touching. The gentleness of their first kiss soon melted into passion. She could barely catch her breath as his fingers moved into her hair, a hand sliding across her hip. She kept her hand still against her lap, tears streaming down her cheeks as the kiss continued.

_If only Jellal had kissed Erza like this._

But the joy of their first kiss was to be short-lived. As all joy was short-lived during these trying times. A vicious roar bellowed through the sky, a warning siren to those within listening range. Meredy tore herself away from Lyon to stand, a thick shadow spreading across the bank of snow outside. In the distance she could see a heavy silhouette moving across the rubble. Lyon's hand was in hers moments later. She swallowed the words she wanted to say to him.

And then they were running for their lives.

* * *

><p><em>"Say, have you ever been in love?"<em>

_Erza's question took Meredy by surprise. She peered out into the grey sky, watching the ash twist and float like black wind. The breeze was hot and dry. The sweat on Meredy's back made her cringe, but she didn't dare remove the cloak around her frame. It was a reminder of who she was, a reminder that the woman she'd called a mother had been murdered by a Dragon mere days ago._

_"I can't say I have," Meredy answered, her voice thick with anguish. "I imagine it's a nice feeling. A feeling that makes you want to explode with the ache of it. I've been lucky enough to see love, though. I see it every time Jellal looks at you."_

_A hand clapped over Meredy's mouth. She knew she'd said too much. Erza's cheeks matched the shade of her hair. When she'd crawled out of their small shelter to join Erza on watch, Meredy could never have imagined the night would pass in this way._

_"When we vanquish those vile beasts defiling our land, I'll tell Jellal how I feel. That's the promise I made to myself. The promise that keeps me going in spite of my losses. The people I love, the people I have lost, they would wish for my happiness. They would want it that way."_

_"And what about you?" Meredy inquired, placing a hand over Erza's as they watched the distance. "Do you want to be with Jellal?"_

_Erza's smile said more than words could say._

* * *

><p>Clutching the small heart of ice to her chest, Meredy wished with all her might that her legs would keep moving. That the pain surging through her left thigh wouldn't bring her to her knees. But that wish was too much to ask. Her weight crumbled to the ground in a heap, causing Lyon to skid to a halt ahead of her. The Dragon swerved low towards them, barely avoiding Meredy's back in its attempt to land. Lyon sent shards of ice forward in a flurry of cold wind, but the Dragon still fought to land in the distance. Vibrant scales glinted in the winter sunshine.<p>

_Scarlet._

Meredy watched in dismay as the Dragon spread his wings, thick veins pulsing as it lurched back to give a mighty roar. Lyon's hand was around Meredy's arm before she could blink. He dragged her to her feet and pulled her away from the fierce beast in front of them. They didn't get far before its tail ensnared her in its grasp, raising her to the sky like a mere toy. Lyon screamed from the ground, his voice high in panic. The ghost of his fingers tingled on her arm.

_"Quiet, human. Food should not speak."_

Chills slid up Meredy's spine. The Dragon held her close to its face, nostrils flaring as it took in her scent. Smoke puffed from the depths of his nostrils, smoke that filled Meredy's mouth and drove the breath from her lungs.

"Put her down! Take me instead!"

_Lyon_. He'd die if he stayed here with her. Squeezing the heart he'd given to her, Meredy smacked a fist over the Dragon's tail and leaned forward with the pride her mother always had. With the pride of her friends, of her loved ones. The pride they'd had while facing their deaths.

_"You've fled from me the last time, little girl."_

The tail constricted around her, making her cry out in agony. Lyon's protests echoed against the dull thump of her heartbeat. She had to protect him. She had to save the man she loved.

But she was terrified.

Fear ached in her chest, making her fingers tremble around the heart pendent. The Dragon was toying with her, keeping her alive long enough to feed on her terror. It cocked its head to look at Lyon on the ground, mouth opening to expose the hint of sharp teeth within. Meredy felt her heart stop.

"Lyon," she called down, tears streaming down her cheeks, "Lyon, please listen to me. I want you to go. I want you to forget about me, to forget everything you said this morning. I want you to go. Please. I can't stand to hear you cry! Men don't cry! You're disgusting!"

"What are you saying? I'm not leaving you here! Meredy, I love you! You mustn't give-"

"Well I don't love you!"

The lies made her heart ache. Made her body tremble harder than it already was. The Dragon raised her higher, golden eyes piercing into her very soul. It would be over soon. This pain would be over. If she held her breath, if she swallowed the feelings desperate to escape, Meredy might be able to save him.

"I don't believe you, Meredy! I don't-"

As the Dragon's tail tightened around her form, so too did Meredy's fingers tighten around Lyon's frozen heart. With a cry of anguish the heart shattered against her palm, cutting into her skin. Hot blood trickled between her fingers. She tossed the pieces aside as she'd toss away garbage, her tears falling after them. As the shards scattered with the dust and the ruin, Meredy thought of her loved ones. Of the losses she had endured. And of the strength she'd been given to face this.

_I love you, Lyon. _

"I don't love you, Lyon! I want to be with my family!"

"Meredy!"

"Let me go, Lyon! Let me go!"

* * *

><p><em>"Hey now, stop scowling," Ultear grinned, squeezing Meredy's cheeks between her thumb and fingers. "You look like Jellal when you make that face."<em>

_Meredy laughed. The sound didn't fit their ruined surroundings, but it felt nice to smile for a change. Jellal stood over Ultear with his arms folded across his chest, a scowl permanent on his face. He looked just as Ultear had said. Just as Meredy felt._

_"I heard that, Ultear."_

_Ultear's laughter joined Meredy's, bringing the hint of a smile to Jellal's face. He was searching. Searching for the woman he loved, and until he found her, Jellal would not relax. Ultear gave Meredy's hand a squeeze and watched as clouds drifted through the blue sky._

_"I don't know how long we'll be graced with a blue sky," she whispered, "But we can't be fooled by appearances. No amount of sunshine will keep us alive. This isn't the Grand Magic Games any more. This is reality. And we must be prepared for anything, even the unexpected."_

But nothing could have prepared Meredy for what was to come.

_;As reason clouds my eyes, with splendour fading._

* * *

><p>Lyon held the surviving fragment of Meredy's gift in his fist, held it so tight he feared it might break against his palm. Clouds drifted across the blue sky as ash drifted by him in gusts of hot, relentless wind. The ground felt softer than it had when he'd fallen and he'd almost forgotten the pain of his missing leg. Every now and then the sensation of movement would return there and he'd forget that he'd lost it in the first place.<p>

_;Illusions of the sunlight._

He would die soon. He would die and be together with the ones he loved. And maybe in death Meredy would accept him. Maybe in death, Meredy would welcome him with open arms, kiss his lips and smile that beautiful smile she always did. He wanted to see her.

_;And a reflection of a lie will keep me waiting._

Lyon was so broken he didn't know what to think any more. He'd wipe the blood from his face were his arms working, but his limbs had turned numb with the agony of his defeat. He'd let her down. He hadn't forgotten, he could never forget a woman like her. His love had been the end of him.

_;With love gone for so long._

Dying should feel worse than this, shouldn't it? Death should have him screaming and writhing and praying for mercy. But he lay there, silent, a smile on his face as tears caressed his cheeks. If only he'd kissed her sooner. If only he'd loved her harder.

_;And this days ending is the proof of time killing all the faith I know._

As sunlight spilled onto the ruined land in a vast ocean of warmth, Lyon was taken under its spell. In the glimmer of light that floated across his vision he saw a wave of pink that reminded him of her hair. She was so beautiful.

_;Knowing that faith is all I hold._

And for a moment, he saw her smile in the radiance of the sun.

* * *

><p><em>Yes I did just kill some of my favourite characters, yes I regret every word, yes I'm a horrible person. Hahahaha. Well, this was a project my friends and I are working on to count down to Christmas. (If you click the masterpost link you'll find other fics and art pieces of different ships). Today was my day, this is my entry. I hope you can all forgive me for this. I'll be updating my on-going fics after Christmas, they're on hiatus until my Fiancé goes home. Until then, I hope you have fun over the holidays! :)<em>


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